Saturday, October 22, 2016

The Geography of Abandoned People ーSpatiality, Resistance and Art Activism in East Asia 棄民的地理ー東亞場域的空間性、抵抗與藝術行動

The talk will take Funamoto Shuji as a reflection of contemporary human
condition in emerging process of urban change in East Asia.Funamoto
Shuji was born in Manchuria in 1945. Since 1968, he has been active in
the day-workers’ labor movement in Osaka and Tokyo’s Yoseba (the
day-labor market. Day-workers were the workers who were used and
disposed of on a day-to-day basis, suffering from very unstable working
and living conditions. Most radically problematizing the characteristics
of the day-workers who appeared in the process of Japan’s
modernization, Funamoto defined them as “fluid underclass workers.”
He also stressed the fact that they had been mobilized by state policy
and then ruled and disposed of by the violent labor control. In June
1975, Funamoto self-immolated in front of the gate of the US Kadena
Military Base, protesting against the Okinawa visit of the crown
emperor, Akihito.

The speaker will take Funamoto’s path as a
unique point and a historical perspective to look into the impact of
state and social relations on urban development in contemporary society.
And from different East Asian geographical locations,such as the
border, shelter, and labour market areas, as its starting points to
reflect on the connections between national and politics of life.
Through a great amount of fieldwork, artists have investigated,
narrated, and made a collective effort to create different sample
slides, which have created a diverse portrayal of East Asia in spatial
contexts.And how artists through an understanding of geographic space,
wandering, and settling, at the borders of their home country and
community, to themselves, the land, and others, and those that have been
defined as dangerous and contagious objects; those excluded from the
city set out on a journey for the renewed pursuit and the process of
establishing a dual perspective.

Alice Ko as an independent curator and researcher focusing on building
the connection and platform of the contemporary art in East Asia.Her
curatorial practice centers around use of urban studies in East Asia,
artistic action, social movement, and colonial history.In 2013, she was
the curator of Reverse Niche – Dialogue and Rebuilding at the City’s
Edge (Hong Kong, Osaka and Taiwan). In 2014, she participated in the
Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\ Architecture (Hong Kong) and organized the
symposium We Are Everywhere—Community Art in the mist of
Proletarianized Spatial Production—A Critical Approach (Hong Kong). In
2015, she was the curator of Beyond the Borderline- Exiles from the
Native Land (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Korea and Beijing).

I often wonder a question about tomato: is it vegetable or fruit? This is not important, as being apart from the tags defined by human, tomato is just a tomato by itself.

Despite of this, I stubbornly classify tomato as vegetable, this has
been affirmed since I was a child. As I grow older, I gradually came to
realize that our world is not enveloped by atmosphere, but our values
and perception. Hence it is impossible to achieve total equality in the
world, and that’s the reason why we need philosophy and art.

I
enjoy living in ordinariness of life, petty and trivial things are not
necessarily insignificant; instead, they have their own intrinsic
quintessence waiting for us to excavate, yet this effort of uncovering
only works in an impromptu manner, just like nose picking.

I am
fully awake, but I love falling into slumber, as in the realm of dream,
every illogical sequence and fragment accumulates, forming mesmerizing
plots.

I share the same gesture in sleeping and drawing, which my mouth opens inadvertently.

Being conscious doesn’t mean that you see things clearly, in the midst
of ambiguous and turbidity there lies infinite possibilities; like a
person with high myopia just arising from his bed without glasses
mistakenly fry his goldfish as normal fish, since then this was
registered as one of his life experience.

Silently throwing pebbles into the lake, infinite ripples formed.

To me, art is something like that, it is a little destructive, a little elusive, a little therapeutic, carries a touch of Zen.

As the ripple spreads on there will be several possibilities:

1.the lake returns as it was before 2.the ripples grow bigger and eventually turn into a whirlpool 3. the ripples transform into a WIFI router.

I rather throw more pebbles. I believe human exists first before art, and art is just a medium, not a grandiose mall.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The workshop is going to examine the relationship between drawing and sculpture & installation and look at possible transformations of 2D- towards 3D-techniques.

In the first part on Saturday, Astrid Köppe will talk about her own experience of developing 3D-artworks that have their starting point in drawing as well as introduce positions of other artists who work in the field. Afterwards the participants will have the opportunity to try out a few of these approaches for themselves, discuss their ideas and develop own concepts for the construction of lines in a 3D space.

We will start and end rather early that day to give participants some time in the afternoon to research and procure own materials for the second part of the workshop.

On Sunday we will go through the materials brought in by the participants and discuss their plans. The next 3-4 hours will be devoted to developing new artworks while employing and adapting the methods we studied earlier.

Astrid Köppe will be working on a piece herself and be there for advice and debate throughout. The event will be concluded by a final presentation of the works.

The workshop is aimed mainly at art students and young artists, but anyone interested in the subject and with at least a basic drawing knowledge is most welcome to take part.

東方神祕學－Everything is god－實體－吸引力法則－分裂－铃木大拙－肉身成道－跟宇宙結合－浪漫主義－謝林－Gnosticism－轉世－榮格－集體潛意識－催眠－量子物理學－ 超人－真愛－海德格爾－傾聽存有－輪迴－靈魂－超理性－泛神論－藝術形上學－通靈－斯賓諾沙－GURU－老子－一元論－後現代哲學－New age movement－嬉皮士－All is one－磁場－超意識－真神－超二元對立－聖經－光與宗教－能量－＜秘密＞－＜與神對話＞－＜六祖壇經＞－佛陀－天人合一－基督－活在當下－覺悟……等 等。

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

The conception of “curating topography” (or
“topographic curating”) I raised here can be briefly described by the
graph of curating topography (see figure 1). The “origin” in the middle
refers to the origin of “cognitive mapping”, which emphasizes the
cognitive mapping proposed by Fredric Jameson. It tries to endow
individual subjectivity by intensifying new sense of place in a global
system, and creates new model of representation with complex represent
dialectics, in order to enhance the self-positioning accuracy, prove the
ability of understanding the world, and represent the imaginative
relationship between oneself and the real situation . The “origin” is
similar to the “standpoint” and “point of viewing” of
traditional landscape painters, and is also the origin of curating
topography”. Only by starting from this “origin” is the topographic
curating able to show the representation of space with a sense of place,
and to lay a real foundation for subject positioning.

Curating topography also starts from and aims at the place outside the
“origin” and the concentric circle of “sense of place”. Cognitive
mapping is related to self-positioning and understanding the world, and
“place” is also “a way of seeing, knowing and understand the world”.
“If we regard the world as a composition of different places, we can see
different matters. If the ‘origin’ is the self-position of cognitive
mapping, then ‘place’ is the positioning anchor of one’s identification
and worldview. ” Just like what Harvey has said, “The preservation or
construction of a sense of place is then an active moment in the passage
from memory to hope, from past to future.” The place is regarded as
the foundation of resistance of politics and an important force to fight
capitalist commodity flow and monetization. It activates the
environment and society by combining local characteristics and
recovering collective memories. However, Harvey also emphasized the
dangerousness of exclusive nationalism and local fascism in particular.
If, the memory of place is closely related to local conceptions, and
it’s difficult to share with outsiders, then insurmountable barriers,
exclusive nationalism and localism will take shape.

The “sense
of place” is like what Massey has said, “What we need, it seems to me,
is a global sense of the local, a global sense of place.” No matter in
Harvey’s “cosmopolitanism” or Massey’s “global sense”, the sense of
place expressed by art language may surpass the limits of place and
acquire more universality because the art language can be shared more
easily. Besides, the imaginative “place” is greatly powerful, because
it’s away from the present and the past, and aims at the future. Driven
by the utopian thoughts and desire, it plays a more important role in
politics. Then, what is more appropriate than art to describe the
utopian imagination? In the art reality of the globalization, biennial
exhibitions and art fairs, which are seen everywhere, are the mainstream
art trends. They are not only the main functioning operational
mechanism in global art that increasingly converge, but also an
important link of transnational capitalism economy. Curating topography
maybe a way out to break through the mechanism that confine the power of
art and wear down the creativity of art.

In my theory of
curating topography, the art that stems from the origin of cognitive
mapping and the sense of place reappears some “landscapes” of place,
which I name them as “being landscapes” and “becoming landscapes”. The
“landscapes” of these two types interact as both cause and effect with
the “sense of place”. However, “landscape” is different with “place”,
the former, in general, combines physical landscape (object of being
seen) and viewpoint (way of seeing). Most viewers are outside the
landscape; on the contrary, they are in it as far as “place” is
concerned . Both of “being landscapes” and “becoming landscapes” stem
from and are shaped by the “origin” of cognitive mapping, in which
viewers are exposed to both outside and inside of the landscape, and
afford the cognitive mapping of place—“sense of place”. If there is a
deeper connection between “being landscapes” and “imaginative” place,
then “becoming landscapes” is more closely connected with the place in
the real world. Eventually, “being landscapes” and “becoming landscapes”
that stem from the “sense of place” will become new elements of it and
jointly compose the huge collage of the place.

Curator Bio Sandy Lo Hsiu-chih lives in Hsin-chu, Taiwan, and works as an independent curator, art critic, film critic and filmmaker.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

“There can be no such thing as an isolated utterance.
It always presupposes utterances that precede and follow it. No one
utterance can be either the first or the last. Each is only a link in
the chain, and none can be studied outside this chain. Among utterances
there exist relations that cannot be defined in either mechanistic or
linguistic categories. They have no analogues.”- Mikhail Bakhtin

About us

Lostgens established in early 2004 by a group of artists. Though situated in the bustling capital city, Lostgens has managed to take on a certain quietness and edginess that comes from being off the beaten track. This self-managed experimental space aims to encourage originality, creativity, individuality, as well as to promote contemporary arts. It provides an alternative space for budding innovative exhibitions and performances. Lostgens has entered a next phase of unique development and operation. What started as a small private group has now moved out into the public, Lostgens aims to weave itself into the multicultural artistic atmosphere. More than just a place that brings together artists, it also provides a platform for a dynamic growth of multi-layered artistic culture.

Why lostgens?

Hemingway once said, "Every generation has had any cause to feel lost past, and future. " Each generation must then use their cultural resistance to the dominant culture, values and then destroy the existing framework. Challenging young people to strive to mainstream culture seems to be every era of "renegade" one thing, because there are different background environment in positive and negative ways, it will create an alternative to mainstream single culture .